Overview of Wicca
Wicca
A short overview
The word Wiccan means, "wisdom," and/or "magic" in Old English.
It is a religion, practice, belief system and way of life for us. Wiccans
are often misunderstood because we are also sometimes called witches. The
word witchcraft means only "the way of the wise" and it is a practice
of healing and light that forbids manipulation and/or harm to other or to
the self. Wicca is an earth or nature religion, meaning that we practice
rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces and that
we seek to live in harmony with nature.
We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than is normally apparent. Because
it is far greater than the ordinary, it is sometimes called "supernatural"
but we see it as laying within that which is a naturally potential to all.
We believe in the Creative Power in the Universe as manifesting through polarity
as masculine and feminine and that this same creative Power lives in all
people, and the functions through the interaction of the masculine and feminine.
We value neither one above the other, knowing each to be supportive of the other.
We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach,
respect those who share their knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those
who courageously give of themselves in leadership for the craft.
Our only animosity towards Christianity, or toward any other philosophy of
life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be "the one
and true way" and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other
ways of religious practices and beliefs. We do not accept the concept of
"absolute evil", nor do we worship any entity known as "Satan" or the "Devil"
as defined by Christian tradition.
We seek to love, to heal, to help and to be accepted as contributing members
of society just as the members of any other religion are.
-Basically by SeaDragon but I don't claim not to have absorbed other's ideas
and words and used them herein.
Read The Charge of the Goddess
Read The Charge of the God
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Charge of the Goddess
Listen to the words of the Great Mother: She, Who was of old
also called among mortals, Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite,
Cerridwen, Dana, Arionrhod, Isis, Bride, and by many other Names:
Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month and better it be when
the Moon is Full, then shall ye assemble in some secret place and adore the
Spirit of Me, Who am Queen of all the Witches.
There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery yet have not
won its deepest secrets; to these will I teach things that are as yet unknown.
And ye shall be free from slavery, and as a token that ye be really free,
ye shall be naked in your rites and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music
and love all in My praise. For Mine is the ecstasy of teh Spirit and Mine
also is joy upon Earth, for My love is law unto all beings.
Keep pure your Highest Ideals; strive ever toward them, let naught stop you
nor turn you aside, for Mine is the secret door which opens upon the door
of youth. And Mine is the Cup of the Wine of Life and the Cauldron of Cerridwen,
which is the Holy Grail of Immortality.
I am the Gracious Goddess, Who gives the gift of joy unto the hearts of men
and women. Upon Earth I give knowledge of the Spirit Eternal and beyond death
I give peace, freedom and reunion with those who have gone before. Nor do
I demand sacrifice, for behold, I am the Mother of all living and My love
is poured out upon the Earth.
Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess, She in the dust of Whose feet are
the hosts of heaven, Whose body encircles the Universe...
I am the beauty of the green Earth, and the white Moon among the stars, and
the Mysteries of the waters, and the desire in the hearts of humans.
Call unto thy soul, arise and come unto Me, for I am the Soul of Nature,
Who gives life to the Universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me all
things must return. And before My face, beloved of Gods and of humans, let
thine innermost divine self be enfolded in teh rapture of the Infinite.
Let My worship be within the heart that rejoiceth, for behold, all acts of
love and pleasure are My rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength,
power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence with you. And
thou, who thinkest to seek for Me, know that the seeking and yearning shall
avail thee not unless thou knowest the Mystery: that if that which thou seekest,
thou findest not within thee, thou shalt never find it without thee. For
behold, I have been with thee from the beginning and I am that which is attained
at the end of desire.
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Charge of the God
Then you shall be taught to be wise, so in the fullness of
time you shall count yourselves among those who serve the Ancients; And you
shall grow to love the music of the Woodlands, to dance to the sound of His
pipes in step with cloven hooves and the forest song...
And you shall learn the Mystery of Rebirth, filling your heart with Her
moonlight, growing in harmony with the Earth, as Her children, protective
of your Mother...
And you shall grow in wisdom; and you shall grow in compassion. And in love
shall you heal the sick, pursuing the arts of healing, the lore of the Mother's
herbs...learning the psychic arts...to cure, to nurture, to help Her children
grow. And in wisdom you shall give counsel, knowing the skills of divination,
seeing how the children best flow in Universal Harmony, understanding planetary
cycles and knowing prophecy.
Thus will you be the Wise Ones, knowing the lores of Nature; the Wiccans
of the heaths, of the countryside, the pagans of the cities, knowing all
are One to the Mother; knowing all are One to the Father.
Let thy life and the lives to come be in the service of the Lord and the
Lady.
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